Fleshies
by flamanipulator
Summary: Tuffnutt gets a draconic friend that he can call his own. Now, are Terrible Terrors really so terrible?


**Title**

The four small reptiles flew toward the smell of fish. The little dragons known to the Vikings as Terrible Terrors loved fish; they would take a fish over a shiny thing any day. Very few Terrors travelled alone, and these were no exception. They rapidly approached the source of the fish, planning on a heavenly feast. The four lizards flew and saw where the scent originated, stopping for a second in hesitation; The Child of Darkness and one of the young Terrible Fleshies sat around the food source! Continuing on their intended path despite the sudden drawback, they chattered a weak strategy.

The tea-green Terror separated from the other three to make his own attempt at stealing a fish; they smelled so good! _Greedy Darkness Child. Want fish!_ It thought primitively as it circled around, watching Toothless glare at his pack-mates. The Fleshy did nothing, so the Terrors all ignored him. _Gotcha!_ The terror thought as he sneakily slipped the small fish from the pile, thinking he had won. Toothless then grabbed the fish's head, nearly ripping it from the tiny dragon's mouth! _No, no!_ It thought, struggling to keep its prize. He stumbled backwards as the black dragon tore the fish away, laughing at the Terror's pitiful attempt. _Mess with me…fire!_ The dragon puffed out his chest and reared his head back, preparing to teach the Child of Darkness a lesson. Just as the flames entered his throat, the big dragon blew a small puff of fire, igniting all of the pent up gas within the Terror's body. _Hot! Fire, fire! Buuurrrning!!!_

****

So, the Runt wished to steal my fish, did he? I lashed my head forward and grabbed the dancing fish, pulling the little dragon from the pile. With a small jerk of my large head, the fish was mine. Swallowing quickly, I laughed at him, mocking his attempt at stealing my superiority. I watched in amusement as he reared back to blast me with his pitiful excuse for fire. At his peak, I puffed a small jet into his mouth, watching and smiling to myself as his body expanded more than it should as his insides ignited. He should have known better; The Child of Darkness does not share well.

****

I landed on my face after being burned by the Darkness Child. _Pain…_ I staggered to my feet clumsily as I recovered from having my insides swamped by my own flames. As I stumbled away from the mean dragon, I heard the Fleshy speak something, and I saw him throw what I realized was a fish in front of me. I perked up, suddenly feeling much better, and devoured the entire tasty morsel. _FOOD!!_ The Fleshy had given me food…AND not tried to kill me…_Nice…Fleshy? True? Fleshies good._ I grumbled a quick thank you and then crawled over to the Fleshy's side. _Sleep._ His side limb looked soft, and I could feel warmth beneath the fake skin he wore. I nuzzled my way underneath the weapon holder – there was no weapon being held – and curled up next to the warmth that I could feel from him; he had no scales to block the heat! _How stay warm? Not care. Waaaarrrmmm._ I felt his grabber rest on my side and wings, but it was not scary; he wouldn't hurt me. The Child of Darkness even let me stay there, partially touching his belly. _Fleshy make Child good…Fleshy magic._

****

Tuffnutt left the dragon stables feeling somewhat depressed. Ruffnutt had decided to stay back with the stupid Zippleback that had tried to bite Tuffnutt's arm off, leaving him to go and be completely lonely, on his own! As often as they fought and as much as they appeared to dislike each other, Tuffnutt felt strangely uncomfortable not having his twin around; probably how a Zippleback would feel if it got split in half.

He moped through the city dragging his feet, stewing over how he had somehow messed up his first dragon relationship. Who does that? _Apparently I do. _He thought, dropping his head again in depression. _So, now Ruffnutt has _two_ dragons, and I've got sheep's breath._ In a moment of distraction, he pulled his lower jaw out and blew up into his nose, cringing slightly at the smell. _Well not quite, but pretty close._

Tuffnutt trudged into the forest, dragging his feet through the dirt and leaves. His dark and depressing thoughts carried him to his favorite fishing spot; one of the few places he could escape to be himself without feeling alone. He grabbed the fishing rod that he kept hidden and cast out, not really interested in catching anything this time. Just to keep his mind off of things, he tried to focus on the movement of the bob through the water; the back and forth motions were quite hypnotizing.

****

The four Terrible Terrors flew over the trees, looking for an easy source of food. The small pack had returned to the cliff where they had gotten a free meal from the young Terrible Fleshy, that turned out to not be so terrible, but they were not there.

As their tiny wings carried them above and through the forest, a lovely but weak smell hit their noses. _Fish!_ They thought as they shot off in the direction of the alluring scent. They landed lightly near the pond, taking in a different young Fleshy that was surrounded by small fish. _Maybe feed?_ The red one chattered, using their limited language and intelligence to ask how to go about getting the fish. _Just take!_ The yellow one snapped, rushing forward. _Wait! Weapon!_ The teal colored Terror grabbed the tail of the eager one to stop him, pointing out the knife at the young one's belt.

At the sound of the scuffle, Tuffnutt turned around, jumping at the sight of four Terrible Terrors. _Don't panic. They _might_ not try to kill you…what would Hiccup do?_ With that thought, he bent over slowly, flinching as all four Terrors turned their attention to him. His every instinct told him to run and leave his measly catch behind, and he seriously wanted to kill some dragons for old time's sake. He knew that he was no match for one Terror though, let alone a pack of four. He picked up a small fish by its gill and tossed it to the Terror on the right, then repeated the action for each other little dragon. He smiled and let his head drop in relief as the Terrors began to chatter amongst themselves again, convinced that they weren't going to eat him.

Tuffnutt turned back to continue fishing as he head the flapping of wings, signaling the departure of the Terrible Terrors. He grabbed his fishing rod and cast out, then turned his attention to the ground in front of him while he waited. He then nearly wet himself when his gaze caught the wondering eyes of a Terror, not a foot away from him. _Oh, what now?_

The Terror had left his pack to stay with the human, expecting that finding food would be much easier this way. All he needed to do was kiss up a little bit, and be like that Child of Darkness the other Fleshy kept around; _tame_. Seeing this Fleshy's wide and scared eyes, the tea-green Terror crept closer, keeping his head down in a show of peace. He leapt up onto the rock where the boy was sitting, ignoring the flinch at the sudden motion.

Tuffnutt sat frozen in fear and shock as the Terrible Terror leapt up next to him, and then proceeded to crawl into his lap, curling up like a little puppy. Staring down at the dragon, Tuffnutt let the awe of it all wash over him; He was sitting here with one of the scariest dragons known to Vikings on his lap, sleeping. _Maybe this can be _my_ dragon. Sure, I'll still need the Zippleback to fly places, but this little guy would be _mine!Tuffnutt unfroze and let his hand rest on the Terror's back, gently petting it.

After about another hour of pleasant fishing with the Terror on his lap, Tuffnutt decided it was time to go home. Gently shaking the Terror awake, he said, "I'm gonna head home. Are you coming?" The little dragon cocked his head in confusion, not quite understanding the clumsy Fleshy speech. As the boy rose, the Terror climbed quickly up onto his shoulder, knowing that if the Fleshy would let him, he was staying close. "I'll take that as a yes."


End file.
